His misunderstanding of the market, lack of comprehension of the history of the Maple Leafs, of what Larry Tanenbaum likes to call the “Passion that unites us,” is both disturbing and unnerving.

You can’t erase history, just because the new CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment thinks he can. You can’t change what people feel, what’s inside of them, what they’ve grown up with, their sensibilities. These aren’t blackboards of people’s lives: You can’t just brush them aside easily.

As a kid, I walked into Maple Leaf Gardens and was instantly fascinated by the photos on the wall: The black and white pictures of Whipper Billy Watson, Johnny Bower, George Chuvalo and Frank Mahovlich. It was part of what made the place special. You didn’t have to be at The Beatles concert. You saw it on the wall.

Now Leiweke talks loudly and oddly about removing pictures from the Air Canada Centre, about eliminating the photos that match our memories. He wants to make it about now and about him. He displays a disrespect and disregard for all of us who value history, who cherish and protect our memories, who want to remember the good with the bad.

Now what he’s toying with: Ruining his own reputation before he barely begins on the job. It is a fool’s beginning. But there’s still time to reverse his thoughts on photo removal and the redecoration of the ACC.

THIS AND THAT

Leiweke has been clear about having an interest in bringing an NFL franchise to Toronto, but in truth, in his previous job he spent a great deal of time trying to get an NFL franchise back to Los Angeles. And he couldn’t pull that off. So what are the odds he can for Toronto what he couldn’t complete in Los Angeles? ... Leiweke is employed by MLSE, which is a corporation and therefore can’t own an NFL team. But Tanenbaum, as an individual, can, with MLSE as his partners. That would be an interesting twist if it ever came to that ... One worry about the Leafs: By the time the season begins, they will basically be out of salary cap space. They have three decent forward lines, but no real depth on the wing. Should a player go down — and Joffrey Lupul seems to do that most years — there isn’t a likely candidate to fill in ... Side note: Loved Lupul’s humility at the ESPY awards, where hockey isn’t exactly front and centre. Lupul walked the red carpet and no one interviewed him until he got to the TSN people. He was just happy someone was there to talk to him.

HEAR AND THERE

Managing in the American League East: Joe Maddon, John Farrell, Buck Showalter and Joe Girardi: Where do you rate John Gibbons on that list of five? ... Are the Blue Jays babying R.A. Dickey? From the outside, it sure looks that way. Dickey was used to pitch against Cleveland instead of Baltimore before the all-star break and didn’t start against David Price (Cy Young vs. Cy Young) on Friday night. The Jays say no, but what kind of message is starting Esmil Rogers at the top of the rotation, ahead of Dickey, Mark Buehrle or Josh Johnson as the second half of the season begins ... A Blue Jays’ voice wonders: Why are there so few Edwin Encarnacion jerseys in the stands at Rogers Centre? For the past two years, he has been the best Blue Jays hitter and one of baseball’s best. One remarkable Encarnacion number: He has more walks than strikeouts, which for a power hitter is quite unusual. Chris Davis has walked 38 times, struck out 113 times this season. The extreme of the equation: J.P. Arencibia has walked 13 times, struck out 99 times to date ... In simplest form, to understand why the Blue Jays are last in the American League East, consider this: This is the Jays 15th series against an AL East opponent. To date, they’ve won three of them ... If Matt Garza is the pitcher the Cubs are trying to sell him as, why don’t they sign him long-term instead of trading him? Or are they trading him for a reason? ... Mikhail Grabovski, married to a Toronto girl, father of two, doesn’t want to play in the KHL. He wants a NHL job but the offers haven’t been overwhelming to date. The most likely stops for Grabovski: Washington, Winnipeg, Florida or Calgary ... If somebody has interest in Tim Thomas, free-agent goalie, they’re sure showing it rather quietly. One place he isn’t going: Washington.

SCENE AND HEARD

Here’s an interesting question: Martin St. Louis leads the NHL in scoring, playing for Steve Yzerman, Team Canada’s general manager. But will there be a place on Team Canada in Sochi for the classy St. Louis? ... The e-mail arrived Friday from the Florida Panthers, offering season tickets for $7 per game, including free parking, a free player jersey and stuff to eat. And for $7 at a Leafs game you can’t get a hot dog and a drink ... Just wondering: Does Ron Hainsey’s heavy involvement in the lockout have anything to do with the fact the defenceman hasn’t signed anywhere as a free agent? ... Kevin Payne was hired to run the mess that has been Toronto FC. He was hired from D.C. United. And the strange thing: The only team in MLS worse this year than Toronto is the team Payne came from ... So I see where David Ortiz has tied Babe Ruth with 506 doubles, and that’s nice. What too many don’t remember: As a pitcher, Ruth has 67 wins by the time he was 22. Bob Gibson, just about the best pitcher I’ve ever seen, didn’t win his first big-league game until he was 23 ... I feel a certain closeness to Scottish golfer Martin Laird, my new favourite, because we both ended up with a 9 on a Par-4 hole this week. His was at the Open. Mine was at Ballantrae.

AND ANOTHER THING

Few coaches have been as outspoken about troubled football players as Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers. So who does Harbaugh pick up this week: Corner Eric Wright, he of the initials, PED and DUI. Can you say hypocrite? ... Glad to see Mike Kostka catch on with the Chicago Blackhawks as a depth defenceman. But can’t see him playing in their top six unless there are injuries. He’s a decent seventh/depth defenceman type, a good kid and an even better story ... Back to earth: Since hitting a home run and going 3-for-5 in the first game of the month, Yasiel Puig is hitting .244 with no homers and two RBI in the past 12 games. He’s still .381 on the season, but the power numbers are coming way down ... For the Expos fans in town for the weekend, born this date: John Bateman. And a happy birthday to Pavel Datsyuk (35), Al Hrabosky (64), CC Sabathia (33), Terry Murray (63), Phil Russell (61) and Alexei Kudashov (42) ...And hey, whatever became of Jimmy Carson?

THE MYSTERY OF PHIL BICKFORD

First draft pick Phil Bickford has not said a word since he chose not to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays. Not a reason. Not a hint. Nothing.

The Blue Jays have been elusive on any questions about why they drafted Bickford 10th last month and couldn’t come to a signed agreement. But they did make an offer. They had to, under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, or they wouldn’t be getting the 11th pick next year as compensation for not signing Bickford. If they don’t make that offer, they don’t get an additional pick.

So what went wrong?

It’s easy to speculate because it’s happened before in MLB. Here’s my take: The Jays drafted Bickford, and by the rules of the draft can only put players through extensive medical testing once players are selected.

There is no combine in baseball, the way you see them in football and hockey. No pre-evaluation. Clearly, the Jays found something that troubled them, and they decided to pull back.

If it was a money issue, someone would have said that. If there was some kind of conflict, the player or the team wouldn’t be so secretive.

By law, the Jays cannot reveal medical information about someone they don’t employ or without that person’s permission. Which is why, I believe, no one is saying anything tangible on the subject. It’s not in the best interest of anyone to share the truth.

LEAFS RESTRICTED GOING FORWARD

The math doesn’t work in Nazem Kadri’s favour. And maybe, at this stage of his NHL career, that’s a good thing.

The Maple Leafs have $9.7 million in salary-cap space remaining and four restricted free agents to sign. Which means almost certain Kadri will have to accept an in-between contract rather than hit the big-time one after one strong season withe Leafs.

Actually, it will be a bit of a juggling act for general manager Dave Nonis to pull this off and make everybody happy.

Carl Gunnarsson has played the last two seasons at a cap hit of $1.3 million. Defenceman of his ilk now make $3 and up. He’ll be signing somewhere around there.

Cody Franson should come in just below Gunnarsson in numbers. Which should leave almost $4 million for Kadri and Mark Fraser to split. And when divided up, that means less than $3 million for Kadri, somewhere around $1 million for Fraser.

And when all are signed, that means no money left for depth players or other free agents.

DOES ANYBODY REALLY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?

Does anybody understand where Masai Ujiri is taking the middle of nowhere Toronto Raptors?

That’s been the confusing part of the summer for the new general manager. It was clear, upon his hiring, that CEO Tim Leiweke wasn’t of the Bryan Colangelo opinion that the Raptors were just a player or so away from contention.

But Ujiri doesn’t appear to be stripping the Raptors of assets, trying to bottom out, even though he made the much-needed Andrea Bargnani trade.

So far, Ujiri has added useful parts like Tyler Hansbrough and DJ Augustin — bench and depth players from the very good Indiana Pacers — to make the Raptors a little more formidable.

And with a starting lineup that should include Jonas Valanciunas, Amir Johnson, Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, this isn’t a terrible team and it’s not a contender. It’s just in between. Which is the worst place you can be in the NBA.

Maybe Ujiri wants a year to assess what he has here before making harsh decisions but to date, he’s following the Colangelo model much moreso than what Leiweke seemed to want.

Leiweke is a fool for wanting to erase history

His misunderstanding of the market, lack of comprehension of the history of the Maple Leafs, of what Larry Tanenbaum likes to call the “Passion that unites us,” is both disturbing and unnerving.

You can’t erase history, just because the new CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment thinks he can. You can’t change what people feel, what’s inside of them, what they’ve grown up with, their sensibilities. These aren’t blackboards of people’s lives: You can’t just brush them aside easily.

As a kid, I walked into Maple Leaf Gardens and was instantly fascinated by the photos on the wall: The black and white pictures of Whipper Billy Watson, Johnny Bower, George Chuvalo and Frank Mahovlich. It was part of what made the place special. You didn’t have to be at The Beatles concert. You saw it on the wall.

Now Leiweke talks loudly and oddly about removing pictures from the Air Canada Centre, about eliminating th